DENR-IX CELEBRATES WORLD WETLANDS DAY

In his opening message during the kick-off program

of World Wetlands Day, RTD Dioscoro M.  Melana is

encouraging the participation and cooperation of  

DENR employees (background) as well as the public to

actively work together in enhancing wetland ecosystem

PAGADIAN CITY - The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Region IX joins government, agencies, NGOs and groups of citizens at all levels of the  international community in celebrating the World Wetlands Day (WWD) on February 2, 2013 with the theme” Wetlands and Water Management”.

It marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shore of Caspian Sea. The key objective of WWD 2013 is to raise people’s awareness of the interdependence between water and wetlands, to highlight ways to ensure the equitable sharing of water between different stakeholder groups and to understand that without wetlands there will be no water.

Wetlands are areas covered with water either natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, static or flowing water, fresh/brackish/saline water, including marine areas where water level at low tide does not exceed six (6) meters. Coral reef, swamp forest, non-forested swamp, sea grass bed, rice paddies, coastal marsh, estuary, lake, river, and aquaculture are types of wetlands in Asia.  Wetland ecosystem supports the life cycle of important pants and animals and serves as windbreak, shoreline stabilization and storm protection, ground replenishment, among other functions.

The Protected Areas Wildlife and Coastal Zone Management Services (PAWCZMS) headed by its Regional Technical Director Dioscoro M. Melana has lined-up various activities to mark the occasion with awareness and action from January 14 – February 25, 2013, to wit: coordination among DENR field offices and stakeholders for a successful celebration;  display of streamer;  radio plugging and guesting;  press release;  kick-off  program;  MOA Signing &  orientation among officials & focal persons  of Labangan, ZDS  on the Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) program implementation;  Information, Education and Communication (IEC) campaign in selected schools and communities, social mobilization, Sagun Dive Tour, Participatory Coastal Resource Assessment (PCRA);  ICM planning workshop and a culmination program.

An Anglo-American poet Wystan Hugh Auden was right when he said “thousands have lived without love, not one without water” because all life on the planet depends on water. In designating 2013 as the UN International Year of Water Cooperation, the United Nations General Assembly recognizes that water is critical for sustainable development and for human health and well-being.

Consumers can reduce the amount of water through direct-action  by installing water saving toilets, applying a water-saving showerhead, shutting off the tap during teeth brushing, using less water in the garden, by not disposing of medicines, paints of other pollutants down the sink, etc.  They can also support the protection and restoration of wetlands ecosystems. (http://www.waterfootprint.)

We are all water managers, not just the water companies or government regulations. Every time we turn on a tap or buy food, we are responsible for a small element of the much larger water management cycle. At the most basic level, each human body on the planet contains more than 60% water. The total volume of water on Earth is about 1.4 billion cubic kilometers. The volume of fresh water resources is about 2.5% of the total volume and about 97.5% in salt water. Only 0.3% of the freshwater resources are in our rivers and lakes. The total usable freshwater supply for ecosystems and humans is about less than 1% of all freshwater resources. Thus, sustainable water management is a key global concern – and a matter of life and death for a huge number of people. (WWD 2013 Brochures) (With PR from DENR 9)